Rajnath Singh fires at Shotgun, hits Bhagwat

For once, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who swears by the Sangh, appeared to be caught in a row over each other’s remarks.

For once, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who swears by the Sangh, appeared to be caught in a row over each other’s remarks.

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Bhagwat said on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party must decide for itself what it needs — “surgery, chemotherapy or medicines” — to sort out its problems in the wake of the electoral debacles.

Asked if the party needed surgery, Rajnath said, “Not at all, who says that?”

As his remark was played on television channels, Rajnath’s aides insisted he was not aware the media quizzed him about RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) chief Bhagwat’s remark.

“Would he ever speak against the RSS chief?” they asked.

Rajnath probably thought the media’s query was related to BJP Member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha’s statement that the RSS needed to do a “surgery” on the BJP to salvage its electoral fortune.

Apparently miffed at the suggestion, Rajnath said, “Who has gone mad (to suggest such a thing)?” Also, on whether the morale of party workers was low, he shot back, “Our morale is high. Who is talking like this?”

But senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said, “Only the doctor can talk about treatment, we are patients.”

Bhagwat, responding to Sinha’s suggestion, told a press conference in Jaipur: “As far as the BJP is concerned, whatever surgery, medicine, chemotherapy is essential for them, it has to be diagnosed by themselves.”

But Shatrughan Sinha, on being told that the Rajnath probably had him in mind while responding to the questions, said, “How dare someone should react to my comment as if I am mad.”